by LIEW Cheng Ee
A book consists of several parts, such as book spine, headband, endpapers and so on. Book spine is one of the most important parts of a book. It is the outer part of the book cover. During the 15th & 16th century, books were sold in the form of loose and unbound sheets to booksellers or buyers. Therefore, buyers were able to bind their books according to their aesthetic preference, but the spine remained blank.
However, each coin has two sides, blank spines made it hard for readers to find their desired books. Hence, people decided to inscribe basic information of a book on the spine. Here are some of the importances of a book spine.
A book spine helps readers to find their desired books more easily. This is because they can guess the genre of a book based on the colour themes and typography on the book spine. For example, pastel colours are more likely to be the theme colours for the spines of romance novels. Thus, readers can look from afar and still manage to find their desired books.
Besides, a book spine also helps to obtain basic information about the book. It is inscribed with the book title, author’s name, publisher, etc. Consequently, readers can scan through all the book spines and find their desired book without having to flip through the books one by one.
In conclusion, the book spine is the first part readers will check when selecting a book. A good book spine catches readers’ attention and helps the book to stand out from rest. Readers are able to know the basic information of a book, find their desired book and they might even find one which they never thought of. Hence, the book spine is far more important than you think.
